April 5th-Who Is My Favourite Disney Heroine?

Today, we are discussing the best Disney heroine…in my personal opinion. Firstly, let’s look at the definition for heroine: ‘a woman admired greatly for her courage, outstanding achievements and noble qualities.’ When I think about a female Disney character that is brave beyond all doubt, achieves greatness during her time on screen and has honourable qualities worthy of great respect, I can only think of one woman…

MULAN!

Photograph taken by my husband at Bruno’s Sculpture Garden

There is a strong theme of honour in the movie Mulan. From the very beginning, our heroine desires nothing more than to make her family proud and bring them luck. After her matchmaking ceremony ends in complete disaster, Mulan begins to question whether she will ever be of worth to anybody. Let’s take a moment to appreciate how beautiful her song Reflections is and how talented her make-up removal skills are with only her sleeve!

When her elderly, sick father is conscripted into the war, Mulan is stricken with fear, knowing in her heart that he will not survive the ordeal. In the dead of night, she takes his armour, sword, conscription paper and cuts her hair to resemble a man. With great courage, Mulan leaves home on her horse and takes his place as a soldier. She names herself Ping and as expected, does not know the first thing about fighting in an army. In the training camp, she is the mockery of her comrades and her captain, Li Shang is close to kicking her out. Through the greatest Disney song of all time I’ll Make A Man Out Of You we witness her progression from failure to success. Mulan as Ping wins the respect of her troop and so they march on to defeat the Huns.

Upon arriving at a completely destroyed village, the army realise just how serious a threat their enemies are. Still undercover, Mulan finds herself facing off against the Huns along with their wicked leader, Shan Yu in the middle of the icy mountains. With the help of her trusty sidekick Mushu, she devises a plan that causes an avalanche, burying the soldiers deep within the snow. The battle wounds Mulan and when Li Shang opens her to tent to assess the situation, he discovers her true identity and gender. She throws herself at his feet, expecting to be executed but instead, she is banished from the army and sent home in disgrace.

By chance, she witnesses the formidable Huns emerge from the thick snow and announce their plans to attack the city of China during the celebratory parade for winning the war. She tries to warn Li Shang but he refuses to listen so Mulan follows, ready and waiting. When the Huns disrupt the festival and kidnap the Emperor, Mulan and her comrades work together to rescue him and the city under siege. With intelligence and wit, Mulan is able to defeat Shan Yu on the rooftop.

Upon the palace steps, Mulan presents Shan Yu’s sword to the Emperor. He begins by chastising her reckless behaviour before announcing that she courageously saved all of China. He presents her with a medal of honour and the entire city including the Emperor, bow before her in reverence. Mulan returns home to her proud and loving family with proof that she fought bravely and won the respect of her country.

So let’s look at the definition for heroine again. Admired greatly for her courage? Check! Achieved greatness? Check! Has noble qualities? Check! Mulan is the epitome of a Disney heroine. I absolutely love her story and just as an FYI, the live-action film will be released in 2018 so stay tuned for that!

Honourable Mention

Moana from Moana

Who is your favourite Disney heroine? Does she fit the definition and if so, how? I hope you enjoyed today’s post. See you tomorrow!

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3 thoughts on “April 5th-Who Is My Favourite Disney Heroine?”

Mine has to be Mulan too 😀 Love the character and I love how she breaks gender and cultural stereotypes showing us anything is possible. Hoping the remake gets made soon and I can’t wait to see it! I have a collectible Mulan doll somewhere and will find it and show you next time ❤